Samsung introduced the first generation of its wearable devices about 6 months ago, and today they refreshed the lineup and announced 2 new models: Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo. While the design and look seems to be sharing the same language as the original Galaxy Gear, under the hood is completely different as Samsung decided to drop Android for Tizen OS and remove the Galaxy brand from the name.

Since we haven’t heard much about Tizen-based devices, we are not sure about the extent of compatibility with Galaxy phones and tablets, and the amount of applications running Tizen. For now, Samsung has promised a wide compatibility, and BMW, CNN, Garmin, Line, Expedia, eBay, Evernote, Feedly and Weather Channel are some the first applications to run on these Tizen-based wearable devices.

Samsung Gear 2 General Specifications:

36.9 x 58.4x 10.0 mm, 68g

1.63-inch Super AMOLED Display, 320x320 pixels

1.0 GHz Dual Core Processor

512MB of RAM, 4GB of Internal Storage

2.0 MP main camera, Auto Focus, Sound & Shot

Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Heart Rate sensor, Pedometer

Tizen OS

Colors: Charcoal Black, Gold Brown and Wild Orange (for strap)

Li-ion 300mAh Battery

On the other hand, Gear 2 Neo lacks the camera and is about 12g lighter than Gear 2.

Both Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo are dust and water resistant, and the heart-rate sensor and pedometer has turned the new devices in to a complete fitness tracker.

You can still answer the incoming calls, see the notifications and even use Gear 2 (or Gear 2 Neo) as a music player with the option to pair with your headphone thanks to the Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity.

In Overall, the new generation of Samsung’s smart watches is more powerful, better designed (especially the new location for the camera), and since it is using a new operating system, we should wait to see how Samsung plans to support it.

Samsung has not yet unveiled the price and the Korean OEM is expected to launch both Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo sometime in 2014 Q2. We are guessing April.